In Germany, von Holtzbrinck and Verlagsgruppe Random House are backing a new ebook subscription venture, Skoobe, where customers pay 9.99 euros a month to borrow 2 ebooks in that 30-day period (with unlimited access to all content only between now and March 1, 2013.) Publishers supplying content so far include Droemer, DVA, Fischer, Goldmann, Heyne, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Lübbe, Luchterhand and Rowohlt. The Skoobe app is available for free for iOS devices, with an Android version to come at a later date. Penguin and the Economist (both owned by Pearson) are joining forces to publish a collection of reports entitled […]
People: Orion to Restructure
As part of a restructure, Orion will replace its trade and paperback divisions with Orion Fiction (housing more than half of its frontlist titles, and nearly all of its crime fiction) and Orion General (for Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Phoenix, Gollancz, and Orion Children’s.) Current trade managing director Lisa Milton will run the General division, while Susan Lamb, who oversees the paperback division, will now run Orion Fiction. Deputy ceo and group publisher Malcolm Edwards explained the restructure in a statement: “Orion’s structure has served us exceptionally well for our first two decades, but we need to look to the future. […]
People, Etc.
A Public Space editor Brigid Hughes will join Graywolf Press as contributing editor as part of a new collaborative venture between the literary magazine and the publishing house. Graywolf plans to publish two A Public Space books per year, to be chosen and edited by Hughes, with “A Public Space Book” printed on the back cover and in the interior. The inaugural book will be selected in the coming months. “The collaboration is a natural extension of our work with writers in A Public Space—it will be wonderful to stay involved in a piece that starts in our pages as […]
eBook Sales Climb Again in AAP December Stats; Comprise 18.6 Percent of 2011 Sales
The AAP reported sales for December, with net trade shipments of $493 million down 3.5 percent from a year ago. Children’s/YA hardcover was the only print growth category for the month, up 12.3 percent, and per the year’s trend, mass market books declined the most, down 40 percent. eBook sales remained moderate, at $85 million the third-largest category after adult hardcover and adult paperback. Comprising 17.2 percent of overall trade sales, they did climb from $77.3 million in November though on a comparable basis, ebooks less than doubled compared to the same period a year ago (when they were $49.4 […]
Figment To Acquire Teen Writing Site Inkpop From HarperCollins; OverDrive Will Distribute Harry Potter eBooks to Schools and Libraries
HarperCollins is selling off teen writing website Inkpop, which it created in 2009, to Figment for an undisclosed sum. The move, the WSJ reports, reflects HarperCollins’ conclusion that “the benefits of marketing its titles to a significantly larger combined audience outweigh the advantages of controlling its own teen writing website.” In three years of operation Inkpop built up a base of approximately 95,000 users, while Figment has more than 115,000 teens using its site, with “non-existent overlap” between the two groups, according to Figment co-founder Jacob Lewis. Figment will assume control of inkpop’s operations, activity, and website as of March […]
Maine-Based Mr. Paperback to Close 10 Stores, Lay Off 80
Mr. Paperback, which operates 10 stores around Maine, will close down by the end of April and lay off 80 full-time and part-time employees after more than 50 years in business. “It makes me really sad,” former Augusta store manager Helen Paganucci told the Kennebec Journalover the weekend. “I wish there were some way to keep it open.” Penny Robichaud, who co-owns Mr. Paperback with siblings Ralph Foss and Pamela Williams (another sibling, Robert Foss, retired several years earlier; the store was founded by their parents, John & Evelyn Foss) told the Bangor Daily News they are in negotiations to […]